Liverpool FC Forum

[Bad Bob]

Riise was a great left sided midfield attacking player scoring fantastic goals. As you have pointed out
He definitely wasnt a left back and was a disaster, in that position, waiting to happen. As I pointed out

Not for me, no.  I think he was actually a very limited left midfield player (had trouble getting behind fullbacks and was a weak crosser of the ball) and was much the better force as a fullback, bombing forward to unleash those piledrivers from the edge of the box.  He had his defensive lapses but was a solid defender for most of his time with us (as MH has pointed out, a time when we were defensively very strong with plenty of clean sheets).  In hindsight it seems quite clear that we let him go too early, given who's come in to the team in his stead.  An excellent servant as well was JAR.

[jacdaniel]

Riise got sold because Rafa thought that Aurelio was the better choice, and at the time that wasn't far from the truth. But either way, it was a mistake to sell Riise, there was still room for him in the club and we could have kept him at least as a sub.

Unfortunately that wasn't possible under the previous owners.  Would of also been great to have kept hold of Crouch, Bellamy, Garcia etc.  We may have actually had a squad! 

[Thommo's perm]

Riise was a great left sided midfield attacking player scoring fantastic goals. As you have pointed out
He definitely wasnt a left back and was a disaster, in that position, waiting to happen. As I pointed out

Not for me, no.  I think he was actually a very limited left midfield player (had trouble getting behind fullbacks and was a weak crosser of the ball) and was much the better force as a fullback, bombing forward to unleash those piledrivers from the edge of the box.  He had his defensive lapses but was a solid defender for most of his time with us (as MH has pointed out, a time when we were defensively very strong with plenty of clean sheets).  In hindsight it seems quite clear that we let him go too early, given who's come in to the team in his stead.  An excellent servant as well was JAR.

He wasnt brought in as a left back and wasnt deployed as a left back when he first arived. He was shifted there through the paucity of options in that position and the culture of decison making at the time as I remember?
So we will have to agree to disagree

[OneHotRed]

Release the Kraken....that is all - not to forget the leg breakingly good shot at Smith!

[Thommo's perm]

Release the Kraken....that is all - not to forget the leg breakingly good shot at Smith!

Net buster
Leg breaker

[SouthCoastShankly]

This is on now. Will be repeated. Just realised what a great fella he his. And he contributed such a lot for LFC. Blotted his copybook with that Og v cheatski.we could of done the mange in Moscow if that hadn't happend. But never mind. Watch if possible and enjoy

He was a disaster waiting to happen at left back and should never have been played there
I wonder who did that...?

That's abit harsh... I don't know whether you're being sarcastic or not... But considering the number of years he played for us and the amount of mistakes he did, he definitely wasn't 'an accident' waiting to happen.

Besides he gave us alot of memorable goals... The rocket against the mancs, the running most of the length of the field and scoring goal against Chelsea in the charity shield, and several first time volley beauties... He got sold too early IMO

You are actually making my case stronger.
Riise was a great left sided midfield attacking player scoring fantastic goals. As you have pointed out
He definitely wasnt a left back and was a disaster, in that position, waiting to happen. As I pointed out

"a great left sided midfield attacking player"

Do me a favour. Maybe that's how you saw him through your wonky eyes.

For most he was a left back with a cracking shot. His crossing was hit and miss, his shot was deadly. Defensively his was up and down.

Aurelio was the closest we got to replacing him defensively, even then I would of had Riise back purely for his attacking contribution.

Every other left back we played in Riise's place was worse than him.

[neil]

"a great left sided midfield attacking player"

Do me a favour. Maybe that's how you saw him through your wonky eyes.

For most he was a left back with a cracking shot. His crossing was hit and miss, his shot was deadly. Defensively his was up and down.

Aurelio was the closest we got to replacing him defensively, even then I would of had Riise back purely for his attacking contribution.

Every other left back we played in Riise's place was worse than him.

dunno mate, Arsenal beat us 3 times in a week by just concentrating on riise, every time they had the ball they played it in or around his position, they mostly played it behind him and he was skinned by the runner.

[parchpea]

If there is any testament to how decent Riise was we have still not replaced him to this day and how many have we tried over there since his departure. Scored some important and great goals for us and was up for every game, gave his all, and we let him go far too early.

[Greavesie]

Riise was always a solid and reliable full back and left midfielder, he was decent defensively and good going forward. However, in his last 2 seasons  at Liverpool he became stale, suffered a dip in form and made mistakes (own goal against Chelsea in CL semi). I can see why Benitez sold him.

But his replacements are another matter.

Spot on

In hindsight though if we knew the Doss was coming in I'd have held onto him 

[Thommo's perm]

This is on now. Will be repeated. Just realised what a great fella he his. And he contributed such a lot for LFC. Blotted his copybook with that Og v cheatski.we could of done the mange in Moscow if that hadn't happend. But never mind. Watch if possible and enjoy

He was a disaster waiting to happen at left back and should never have been played there
I wonder who did that...?

That's abit harsh... I don't know whether you're being sarcastic or not... But considering the number of years he played for us and the amount of mistakes he did, he definitely wasn't 'an accident' waiting to happen.

Besides he gave us alot of memorable goals... The rocket against the mancs, the running most of the length of the field and scoring goal against Chelsea in the charity shield, and several first time volley beauties... He got sold too early IMO

You are actually making my case stronger.
Riise was a great left sided midfield attacking player scoring fantastic goals. As you have pointed out
He definitely wasnt a left back and was a disaster, in that position, waiting to happen. As I pointed out

"a great left sided midfield attacking player"

Do me a favour. Maybe that's how you saw him through your wonky eyes.

For most he was a left back with a cracking shot. His crossing was hit and miss, his shot was deadly. Defensively his was up and down.

Aurelio was the closest we got to replacing him defensively, even then I would of had Riise back purely for his attacking contribution.

Every other left back we played in Riise's place was worse than him.

Left back my ar'se!
He was an attacking left sided player who could  be used as a LB
As someone pointed out a good team would take advantage of his defensive frailties.
Good attacker, not so good defender.

[Greavesie]

I'd say he was a left back, by your reasoning Thommo there aren't many left backs in the game, these days much of the focus is on the attacking aspect of their game

Danny Alves is a defender apparently, I think he's rather suspect, not that it matters at Barca mind, same goes for Ramos

[SouthCoastShankly]

Left back my ar'se!
He was an attacking left sided player who could  be used as a LB
As someone pointed out a good team would take advantage of his defensive frailties.
Good attacker, not so good defender.

Defensively he wasn't consistent but to suggest he is an attacking midfielder is laughable. Yeah he could score good goals, but he had no real technique or skill other than a powerful shot.

I still maintain as bad as he was defensively sometimes we have never improved on him.

[Thommo's perm]

"he had no real technique or skill other than a powerful shot."
I am sure others on here who watched him play regularly when he first came here will disagree with you on that
I cant be ar'sed anymore

[Kharhaz]

I think Riise summed himself up perfectly. He got too comfortable. Many games he was poor in but then, having no competition, he could afford to be. I think Rafa called that one right when Riise was sold. He was inconsistant in many games, and although he scored the odd cracker, the rest of his contribution was rubbish.

I dont think its a testament to Riise that we have yet to find a replacement, I think its a truth that a problem position hasnt been sorted yet.

[maguskwt]

Riise was a great left sided midfield attacking player scoring fantastic goals. As you have pointed out
He definitely wasnt a left back and was a disaster, in that position, waiting to happen. As I pointed out

Not for me, no.  I think he was actually a very limited left midfield player (had trouble getting behind fullbacks and was a weak crosser of the ball) and was much the better force as a fullback, bombing forward to unleash those piledrivers from the edge of the box.  He had his defensive lapses but was a solid defender for most of his time with us (as MH has pointed out, a time when we were defensively very strong with plenty of clean sheets).  In hindsight it seems quite clear that we let him go too early, given who's come in to the team in his stead.  An excellent servant as well was JAR.

He wasnt brought in as a left back and wasnt deployed as a left back when he first arived. He was shifted there through the paucity of options in that position and the culture of decison making at the time as I remember?
So we will have to agree to disagree

He wasn't brought in as a LB? gimme some of what you're smoking mate? Bob summed it up perfectly... He was very one dimensional as LM and better as LB...